Artu by Michael Harrison

For the past 25 years I have been a full-time artist. I have exhibited annually at the summer arts festivals in Laguna Beach, California shown my work in local galleries and taught private oil painting lessons. www.harrisonfineart.com

So how on earth do I end up writing and publishing three books?

I have always loved telling bed time stories to my kids and grandkids and there is nothing better than when one says, “No grandpa, not that one, one of your made-up stories.”

Inspiration

When visiting my grandson, CJ, in New York I had the pleasure of taking him to school each day. That journey involved riding the subway which we entered at 8^th. Street station.  Waiting for our train CJ and I would scan the rail tracks hoping to catch a glimpse of a rat scurrying between the tracks. Many times, we were lucky and that gave me the idea for a story featuring a rat living in the station who made friends with my grandson who was 8 at the time.

My grandson loved the book and when his teacher asked the class to bring their top five books to class for show and tell, CJ included Artu alongside best-selling books like Dog Man.  It melted my heart and motivated me to write Artu2.

Artu is all about caring for those less fortunate, helping out those in need. In book one Artu teams up with CJ to put an end to the bullying that Artu observes as he wanders around the playground. He also notices that some kids seem to have very little to eat for lunch and with CJ they come up with a plan to feed undernourished kids.

Readers have told me that they absolutely love Artu which some may find a little strange in that he is a wild New York rat.  Artu is super smart and intelligent and kind (the story describes just how he became so incredibly astute) Whilst he is on a mission to help those in need, he takes on the role of mentor for CJ constantly giving him great advice on how to be a better, smarter and caring person. 

In Artu2, Artu and CJ team up again this time to help a homeless guy that Artu has been observing at the station.  It turns out he is a homeless Vet suffering from PTSD. They had no idea helping this one guy would lead to the opening of The Artu foundation for the homeless.

The Writing Process

I was late to the writing party, writing my first book, Teenage Millionaire when I was 67 and Artu when I was 69.  I wrote Artu sitting on the beach at Laguna Beach. With pen in hand, I would scribble feverously onto a $1 Target note book. The words poured out at such speed I had a job keeping up and at times I had no idea what was coming next until it hit the page. At home in the evening, I would try to decipher the scribble and type it into a word document.  For my 70 birthday we took a 15-day Caribbean cruise and each day lounging in a deck chair I wrote Artu2, scribbling during the day and typing it up at night.  

How did I come to the name Artu; you may be wondering?

The scientific name for a rat is ratus ratus which clearly has 2 R’s, hence Artu

I penned the book for my grandson and featured him as the 8-year-old joint main character.

Initially, I thought 6 – 12 -year -old would be my target audience, however, I have received feedback from a mother who read it to her 5- year- old and I met a 90- year- old who enjoyed it and bought copies for his great grand kids. It would give me great joy to have more kids read and enjoy ARTU and Artu2. Royalties are of no interest to me and I intend to donate any earnings that accrue.

My next steps are to figure out how to get Artu in front of more readers and possibly write Artu3.

My investment so far has really only been my time as I did all the artwork for the covers and illustrations and so perhaps it is time to book some adds. 

Book Links

https://mybook.to/ARTU

https://mybook.to/ARTU2

https://mybook,to/TeenageMillionaire